Michigan State Football Top 30 Players Countdown: No. 13
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Linebacker is going to be a strength for Michigan State this season.
Returning star Jordan Hall isn’t the only part of that. One of the best transfer portal prospects MSU landed this winter is Buffalo transfer Dion Crawford. He has an interesting background as a pass rusher that the Spartans could use to their advantage, and I have him at No. 13 on my ongoing “top 30 players” list for Michigan State this coming fall.
Examining Role, Future for Crawford in 2026
Crawford originally committed to MSU with just one year of eligibility remaining, as he’s entering his true senior season. The NCAA’s new “5-in-5” rule has a direct impact on Crawford, though, as he will now have the option to continue playing college football during the 2027 season.
That’s a decision for Crawford to make after the season, though. For now, he’s a projected starter for Michigan State in Max Bullough’s room this coming fall. Hall is a sure thing at the MIKE linebacker position. Crawford should be lined up adjacent to Hall on the field at the WILL position. They will both likely be backed up a bit by Auburn transfer Caleb Wheatland, but true freshman Adam Shaw was also making a surprising amount of noise during the spring.
Crawford had also been getting reps at the MIKE spot during the spring, though. He could be the second player on the depth chart to get that “green dot” that offers him direct communication with defensive coordinator Joe Rossi while he’s on the field.
The large amount of versatility in the Spartans’ linebacker room is a big reason why the room is set to be something for Michigan State to lean on. Crawford can play multiple spots, Wheatland can play multiple spots, and MSU has solid depth there, between Brady Pretzlaff, Albany transfer Cam Stodghill, and former 4-star recruit DeJae White.
Looking at Crawford’s Career Up to Now
Crawford originally was actually a pretty traditional linebacker at first. He played in 11 games as a true freshman, with two appearances being starts. Crawford was just a pretty regular middle linebacker in Buffalo’s rotation — according to PFF, he only rushed the passer 11 times out of 278 total defensive snaps back in 2023. Crawford finished the year with 31 total tackles and one TFL.
A lot changed between Crawford’s freshman and sophomore years. Crawford made his way towards being a full-time starting linebacker, but his main job was now getting to the QB. His total number of pass-rushing snaps shot all the way to 323. Crawford made 15.0 tackles for loss and 8.5 sacks that year, which was good enough to earn a Third Team All-MAC selection.
Things changed again last fall. Buffalo split the difference a bit between Crawford’s role as a freshman and what he was as a sophomore. He’d still rush the quarterback, but only about half as often. Crawford had 169 total pass-rushing opportunities, which largely explains why his number of sacks dropped from 8.5 sacks to 3.5, and his tackles for loss went from 15.0 to 5.0.
Crawford’s tackles took a big jump, though — from 59 to 81. He finished the season second on the Bulls in tackles, which was behind Khalil Murdock, whose 142 tackles ranked third in the country.
Crawford’s numbers as a tackler have also been pretty solid. His missed tackle rate is just a tad below 9% each of the last two seasons. For additional reference, Hall’s missed tackle rate over the last two years is 9.2%. Admittedly, Hall has been facing tougher competition, but below 10% is a good place for a linebacker to be.
The interesting thing about Crawford will be how Michigan State utilizes him in coverage. Crawford had a PFF coverage grade of just 28.9 last season, with the site saying he allowed 20 catches on 26 targets for 199 yards and two touchdowns.
That’s a much different story from Crawford’s breakout 2025 season, when he got a pretty nice coverage grade of 79.0. Crawford had at least 100 coverage snaps each of the last two seasons, so it’s not an issue of sample size, either. A college football player is hardly going to regress that much in one specific area, so I definitely have some skepticism over that harsh 28.9 grade.
At the very least, MSU will have Hall to rely upon for decent coverage in the middle of the defense. Hall had an 81.4 coverage grade last season across 331 such snaps. Plus, Crawford’s larger job as a WILL linebacker will be to help fortify the weak side of the Spartan defense. Michigan State’s secondary also seems improved, led by corners Charles Brantley and Tre Bell.
Final Details on Crawford
Even with that Third Team All-MAC honor on Crawford’s resume, he didn’t get a ton of hype in the transfer portal rankings this offseason. He was ranked in the 1,500s on On3’s own rankings, and 247Sports had him in the 1,600s. Neither site had him in the top 100 among linebackers that made themselves available in the portal.
Crawford’s eligibility is a factor in that, though. Had everybody known that he would actually have two years of eligibility left instead of one, Crawford would definitely have gotten a bit of a bump. He certainly wouldn’t have been the only player to get that additional year, but a smaller percentage of football players are benefitting from the rule change than in other sports, such as basketball.
Redshirting used to be the general rule for true freshmen in football, whereas most freshmen in hoops would at least see the court a little bit right away, with the much smaller roster sizes.
As a high school recruit, Crawford was in that mid-3-star range. He was actually teammates with future Heisman winner and No. 2 overall pick Travis Hunter at Collins Hill High School. Crawford actually had several Power Conference offers. Among the list were Florida State, Michigan, Arkansas, Georgia Tech, Missouri, Tennessee, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, and West Virginia. Still, Crawford wound up starting out at Buffalo.
Other Top 30 Articles
No. 30, WR Samson Gash | No. 29, WR Charles Taplin | No. 28, S Devin Vaught | No. 27, KR Kenneth Williams | No. 26, OL Luka Vincic | No. 25, OL Rakeem Johnson | No. 24, CB Tyran Chappell | No. 23, DL Derrick Simmons | No. 22, TE Carson Gulker | No. 21, WR KK Smith
No. 20, DL Eli Coenen | No. 19, OL Nick Sharpe | No. 18, LB Caleb Wheatland | No. 17, RB Marvis Parrish | No. 16, DB Michael Richard | No. 15, EDGE Anelu Lafaele | No. 14, P Rhys Dakin
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A 2025 graduate from Michigan State University, Cotsonika brings a wealth of experience covering the Spartans from Rivals and On3 to his role as Michigan State Spartans Beat Writer on SI. At Michigan State, he was also a member of the world-renowned Spartan marching band for two seasons.
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